WWE Raw Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for October 16

Follow along with our live WWE Raw review.

Previously on WWE Raw, we finally got to the fireworks factory with The Shield. Alexa Bliss is still working that “Mickie James is so old” schtick. Emma won a match so she can lose another. The Cruiserweight Championship changed hands in the main event. And Bray Wyatt introduced us to Sister Abigail, and it was lame.

This week, Team Red is on the path to TLC this Sunday. Surprisingly, at this writing there have only been four matches announced for TLC. The big one is the seven-man TLC match. On one side, we have the reunited Shield. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose are all on the same page at the same time for the first time in years.

On the other side, there’s The Miz, The Bar, and Braun Strowman. As if a six-man match wasn’t enough, now The Shield is at a numbers disadvantage with the addition of Strowman. And tonight on Raw, The Monster Among Men takes on longtime rival Reigns. As if that wasn’t enough, the two powerhouses will battle inside a steel cage. Will the other participants in the TLC match get involved somehow?

The only other things WWE is advertising for tonight are hype for TLC, or a suggestion of a match to be added. The one to most likely be added is Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor. Sure, they’ve fought before – too many times, if you ask me. But this time, Sister Abigail herself seems to be in the middle of things. Are we getting yet another match between these two superstars?

The championship matches at TLC are also going to get some airtime tonight. Kalisto won the Cruiserweight Championship in last week’s main event. Enzo Amore has already invoked his rematch clause. Surely tonight they’ll cross paths at some point.

Alexa Bliss is set to defend the Raw Women’s Championship against Mickie James at TLC. The two have spent the last few weeks going back and forth at each other. Tonight will be no different. And in other action in the Women’s Division, Asuka will debut at TLC against Emma. The odds of The Empress of Tomorrow showing up tonight are slim, but hey – you never know.

Related Story: WWE Raw: 5 Predictions for October 16, 2017

Follow along with our live WWE Raw review right here starting at 8pm EDT.

The Shield make their entrance. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Kicking Things Off Right

Well, for everyone who had a problem with last week’s Shield reunion for being less than perfect, things were a little better this week. As Kurt Angle was discussing TLC this weekend, the sounds of “SIERRA HOTEL INDIA ECHO LIMA DELTA” echoed through the arena in Portland. And rather than come down the ramp, the Hounds of Justice entered through the crowd, just like in the past.

Throw in the fact that all three superstars were wearing the old school flak jackets, and it was almost like jumping back in time. (Seth was even wearing his gloves, and Roman shaved the beard back into a goatee!) Angle was smart enough to step aside and give Reigns, Ambrose, and Rollins the floor.

But to be honest, The Shield promo was just random yelling. We get it, Seth, you’re excigted to be back. But maybe dial it back a touch – you guys were always cooler than cool, not shouty. Before everything was said and done, Dean Ambrose issued a challenge to the quartet The Shield are scheduled to face at TLC.

And out came Strowman, The Bar, and The Miz. Kurt Angle remembered he’s actually still in charge, and he asserts dominance. We also find out that there’s a Raw Tag Team Championship match scheduled tonight between The Bar and Rollins and Ambrose.

Elias and The Good Brothers serenade the crowd. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Elias, Luke Gallows, & Karl Anderson vs. Jason Jordan, Apollo Crews, & Titus O’Neil

Result: Jason Jordan, Apollo Crews, & Titus O’Neil defeated Elias, Luke Gallows, & Karl Anderson via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

The fact that The Club aren’t a bigger deal when they are two of the most charismatic superstars on the roster is criminal. They are abso-hoot-ley fantastic, and I want them on my screen at all times. If they hadn’t been booked like they were incompetent in the ring for the past, oh, forever, they probably would be a bigger deal.

But after a glorious cover of “Cool, Cocky, Bad” – one of the greatest themes in WWE history, as it were – the scheduled match gets under way. Jordan and Titus Worldwide get the upper hand quick, because they interrupted a musical performance like a bunch of cowards. After the commercial break, though, The Club used their tag team wrestling advantage to cut the ring in half and isolate Crews from his partners.

Crews would make a hot tag to Jason Jordan, who took it to Karl Anderson. Jordan is incredibly talented, but I feel like the way he’s being used lately is a step backward from his excellent matches with John Cena and Roman Reigns from a month ago. He’s only getting brief flashes to show what he can do, rather than a full match. It seems unwise, but what do I know?

After a typical six-man tag sequence of “everyone knock everyone else out of the ring,” Crews made a blind tag to hit the toss powerbomb on Anderson for a victory. I would have thought Jordan would get the pinfall here. Maybe Jordan vs. Elias will get added to the TLC Kickoff Show or something.

Emma and Alexa Bliss agree to team up. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Emma States Her Case

Emma is sick and tired of hearing about Asuka. After all, what has Asuka done? Renee Young tries to point out Asuka’s accomplishments, but Emma wants none of it. Renee can’t even do her journalistic duty of correcting misinformation.

Alexa Bliss comes out and turns everything around to be about her. She says the younger generation needs to stick together against Mickie James and the “old people.” Bliss offers to team with Emma against James and a partner of Mickie’s choosing – maybe Betty White. RIGHT, BECAUSE SHE’S OLD. Emma agrees, and the two head out.

Cedric Alexander appears to be outnumbered. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Cedric Alexander (w/ Rich Swann) vs. Jack Gallagher (w/ The Brian Kendrick)

Result: Cedric Alexander defeated Jack Gallagher via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

After a lengthy video package highlighting the rivalry between Gallagher and Alexander, the match gets under way with Swann coming down to even the odds. Apparently, Gallagher and Kendrick will face Alexander and Swann at TLC on Sunday. good job promoting that one, guys!

As is usually the case with the 205 Live matches on Raw, the match was absolutely terrific, but way too short. Cedric Alexander has the talent and move set to be the biggest star in not only the Cruiserweight Division, but maybe the Raw midcard, yet he gets barely five minutes?

What’s great about this is the simple story. Gallagher realized being nice wouldn’t cut it, so he teamed up with “The Man With The Plan,” who had the chance to be a fan favorite but proved himself to be a not so nice guy. Alexander refuses to take the easy way out, so he stands up for himself and finds ways to even the score – Rich Swann, for example.

Check out Gallagher’s sell of the Lumbar Check, too. Dude bounced about ten feet in the air, which really sells it as a devastating move.

Miz TV, featuring Braun Strowman. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Miz TV, featuring The Monster Among Men

Every so often, I worry that I’ll run out of good things to say about The Miz. I mean, every week, I write these reviews, and thousands of words come from my brain through my keyboard and onto your screens. Hundreds of those words are usually devoted to The Miz, and how many times can I say, “THIS GUY IS THE BEST OMG”?

Well, tonight, his improv skills came through like a ray of sunshine through a cloudy day. Poor Curtis Axel looked genuinely thrilled that the crowd was cheering for him – and there’s The Miz just running with it like it was all planned. Then the crowd gets on Sheamus, and again, Miz flips the script and makes it seem like everyone expected that to happen. We don’t deserve The A-Lister, not one bit.

By the time Strowman comes out, I’m already in a happy place because The Miz is so good. And there’s Braun, just a walking pile of quiet intensity, promising to tear limbs apart. This was everything you want from a match-hyping promo.

The Miz tries to get slick and add a fifth partner to his team at TLC (AXEMAN COMIN’). Out comes Kurt Angle to put the kibosh on that, despite the pleas of Miz to the contrary. But Angle is a reasonable man, so he makes a deal: The Miz gets his fifth partner if Strowman defeats Reigns in the cage match tonight. But if Strowman loses, Braun’s out of TLC and it’s a 3 on 3 again. Strowman eagerly accepts, before Angle bans everyone from ringside for the cage match and the tag title match.

Alicia Fox takes on Sasha Banks. Photo Source: WWE.com

Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox

Result: Sasha Banks defeated Alicia Fox via submission

Rating: 2.25 out of 5 stars

We’re reliving the greatest feud of May 2017 (jeez, that’s it? seems like so long ago) because apparently Alicia didn’t actually tap out last week. Okay, fine. The pre-match promo from Foxy was a bit chaotic – makes sense if Alicia is supposed to be crazy – but she’s screaming about a T-shirt still? Um, did no one tell her?

Anyway, Sasha went for the Banks Statement pretty quickly, but Fox escaped. A big tilt a whirl backbreaker from Fox looked brutal, and she took over after that. But much like the cruiserweight match, this one was way to short to really get going and show anything good. In fact, this one was so short that by the time I found the link to Foxy’s new shirt, the match was basically over. I know I’m a slow typer, but come on, man.

All it took was one quick reversal from Sasha to escape a second tilt a whirl backbreaker. IT led straight to a Banks Statement and a pretty obvious tap out this time. Without any excuses left as to why she lost this time, Fox snapped. I kind of feel bad for her – been around for ten years, no merch, and you’re known only as “the crazy one”? Doesn’t seem right.

Backstage after the match, Fox continued the assault. Maybe there’s something to this? SOMEONE GIVE THE WOMAN A DAMN T-SHIRT.

Former champ Enzo Amore heads to the ring. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Enzo Amore Pity Party

Nothing warms my heart more than seeing a sad Enzo Amore. But nothing locks it back up again than Kalisto coming out and doing a good lucha thing.

Enzo plays back the tape from last week. To recap, Enzo made his bed last week, and Mustafa Ali helped push The Realest Guy to a title loss. So tonight, Enzo is all sad, mad, and everything in between. As he whines and complains, out comes the new champ, Kalisto.

And, woof. It wasn’t quite as bad as the infamous draft night promo. but it was up there. I get that they’re going for the whole Rey Mysterio connection, with Kalisto as the next Latino star, but the rapid fire switch between Spanish and English just made it sound like he couldn’t speak either particularly well. Let the man speak one language at a time, it’ll sound better. Let him do his promo in Spanish with running subtitles or something, I don’t know.

But Kalisto is a terrible promo. Someone needs to tell him you can’t walk in to a show as champ and then leave as “the new champ.” It was rough to watch – almost as rough to watch as my boy Drew Gulak siding with Enzo. NOOOOOOOOOOO!

https://twitter.com/WWE205Live/status/920100163711991808

Yes, Enzo has recruited Ariya Daivari, Tony Nese, Noam Dar, and Gulak as his henchmen. Mustafa Ali tried to save Kalisto, but all that did was get him beat down, too. So Enzo isn’t alone any more, Kalisto can’t talk, and Ali went all noble for naught. Yay, 205 Live?

Tag Team Title action. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Raw Tag Team Championship Match

Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Cesaro & Sheamus

Result: Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose defeated Cesaro & Sheamus via pinfall

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

After the matches these two teams have had on pay per view, it wouldn’t have been much of a stretch to assume it would be great tonight. Lots of familiarity between the four superstars, big pay per view gimmick match coming up, a Shield reunion – no one would want this to be a let down. And from the get go, this one was pretty good.

Rollins and Ambrose, despite not really being the “tag team” part of the original Shield, have such good chemistry. There was a quick, almost blind tag early on that led to a great sequence of running attacks and a double plancha to the outside.

A cheap shot from The Bar put Rollins in a world of hurt, and the Kingslayer was in trouble for much of the match after that. Let’s not forget that Sheamus and Cesaro are former multiple time tag champs, so they have really good chemistry too. A flapjack into a European uppercut was like a Bar version of the 3D. Pretty cool.

The Bar were also able to prevent Rollins from tagging out for a while, but once the hot tag was made to Ambrose the arena blew up. I guess these guys are pretty over, huh? They must be amped up, too, because both Rollins and Ambrose usually have really terrible suicide dives, but tonight both looked pretty good.

The finishing sequence was super hot – superkicks, big lariat, a ripcord knee into Dirty Deeds. A successful title defense for The Shld before the big Shield match on Sunday wasn’t unexpected, but it was still a great match.

Backstage, Curtis Axel gives The Bar a pep talk, because he’s adorable. He says he needs to be the fifth man in the match at TLC, because it’s in his hometown. He tries to give the same pep talk to Braun Strowman, and claims he wants to fight Roman Reigns. Braun tells him to go do it, and a hesitant Axel is peer pressured into finding Reigns by all three men.

Finn Balor makes an entrance. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Hey, Soul Sister

Finn Balor has a very unique method of playing mind games. Personally, if someone was trying to scare me with a creepy alter ego/personal demon/split personality, my response would be to possibly soil myself and try to avoid seeing that person ever again. But that’s why I sit behind a computer reviewing the show instead of stepping in the ring to do anything physical.

Finn, though, decided the best way to respond to Sister Abigail was to, uh, give a history lesson? Buddy, I’m a teacher – history is never a way to grab someone’s attention. Stick with anything else.

But Balor made his choice – he tells about this old Celtic festival and a legend he heard about. I don’t know, I kind of tuned out when I realized it was the “history” route. But the short version is that Finn has a demon of his own. WE KNOW, PAL.

Then we shift techniques. Balor abandons the history lesson, and goes straight into “do everything Bray Wyatt does to try and scare him right back.” So the camera pans to the crowd so we don’t see the camera tricks at play. As Finn continues his story, he morphs into an orange version of his demon paint, then back to Finn. Listen, unless you’re bringing back Halloween Havoc, you don’t get to go all orange near Halloween.

Finn ends everything by stealing Bray’s catchphrase – RUN – and we are stuck with one more Wyatt-Balor match. At least.

The Raw Women’s Champ heads to the ring. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Emma & Alexa Bliss vs. Mickie James & Bayley

Result: Mickie James & Bayley defeated Emma & Alexa Bliss via pinfall

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Honestly, unless Mickie picked Nia Jax as her tag partner, there was no surprise here. But with Sasha having a match earlier in the evening, Bayley was the only possible option. I mean, Dana Brooke, but no.

Early in the match, it was all Mickie and Bayley. Some impressive teamwork had Alexa rolling her eyes at how Emma was faring. The action spilled to the outside when Emma saved Alexa from a possible pin, and Raw rolled to commercial.

Back from the break, Emma was in control over Bayley, but The Huggable One hulked up (hugged up? yeah, sounds good) after having her head slammed into the turnbuckles. It didn’t last long, though.

As pointed out by Booker T (of all people), Bliss did a great job of not really getting involved in the match and instead having Emma do all her dirty work. Solid analysis from Booker, proving that even a stopped watch is right twice a day.

When Bayley finally made the hot tag to Mickie James, the former six-time Women’s Champion was a house of fire. And as one would expect in a non title tag team match six days before a pay per view championship match, MICKIE JAMES HAS PINNED THE RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPION.

I mean, you had to know it was coming, but it’s still the worst kind of finish for these matches. I really hope Mickie wins on Sunday, but I’m not so sure.

The Miz gets some bad news about Curtis Axel. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

What Happened To Axel? Part 1

Before the break we saw Curtis Axel heading towards The Shield. Luckily, we didn’t actually see what I can only assume was the total and utter destruction of the Axeman. But after the break, The Miz asks Sheamus, Cesaro, and Braun Strowman where Axel went. Upon hearing what happened, The Miz displays his A-List Hollywood acting skills to show genuine concern for his lackey.

Mickie James Speaks From The Heart

Charly Caruso asks Mickie about everything Alexa has been saying about her. A truly emotional segment saw Mickie nearly break down in tears as she talked about how hurtful the comments were. (More than “Piggy James”? Wow.) She also talks about how important this match is to her, not just for herself, but for her three year old son Donovan. Aw.

It’s nice to get some human element added to these matches. Too often, it’s just “character vs. character,” and if anything the “character” is the real person turned up to 11. But this was Mickie James just being Mickie James. It’s a lot more interesting than always getting the same old same old.

Poor Curtis Axel. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

What Happened To Axel? The Conclusion

The Miz finally finds Axel backstage, just hanging around. I guess the boys in The Shield watched WrestleMania X on the WWE Network not too long ago. I mean, that’s exactly how Macho Man Randy Savage managed to defeat Crush in their Falls Count Anywhere match.

When Axel finally comes down, Renee Young asks Miz if Axel will be ready for TLC if necessary. Miz drops a bombshell and says that Axel was never the fifth man. Poor guy.

Kane shocked the WWE Universe with his appearance. Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Steel Cage Match

Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

Result: Braun Strowman defeated Roman Reigns via pinfall

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Chaos inside the cage, chaos outside the cage. That’s what makes a great main event.

With The Miz on commentary, Reigns and Strowman just beat the tar out of each other. Normally I say this as a bad thing, but tonight it’s a good thing: If you’ve seen a Reigns-Strowman match, you’ve seen tonight’s match. Just put a cage around them instead of an ambulance on the stage, and it’s the same thing. Viciousness, brutality, and ridiculous feats of strength.

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Strowman ordered the referee to chain the door shut, making an escape victory more difficult for Reigns. He still tried, and Strowman countered with a superplex off the top off the cage to keep him inside.

Of course, there was a bit of interference from guys who were banned from ringside. The Bar scampered up the side of the cage to slow Reigns down, and the rest of The Shield ran in to fight The Bar off. Their brawl went backstage, and Miz left the commentary table to lock them outside.

Hey, there’s still a cage match going on! Once the cameras focus on the main event again, Reigns is building momentum. He’s set to go for a spear when RED LIGHTS, SPOOKY MUSIC, AND PYRO-FREE EXPLOSIONS happen to signal the arrival of Kane. And the guy who’s supposed to be running for mayor of Knox County climbs up from under the ring and chokeslams Reigns.

The Big Red Machine and The Monster Among Men double team Roman until Strowman scores the pinfall. The Miz makes the world’s least surprising announcement that Kane is the fifth man on his TLC team. And I go to vomit because, really, Kane again?

Next: 5 Things WWE Got Right: Sami Zayn Drifts To Darkness

That concludes our live WWE Raw review for this week. What did you think of the show?